245 years ago today, colonists dressed as members of the Mohawk tribe dumped the equivalent of $1 million of tea into Boston Harbor.

A seminal event, well-known to American schoolchildren - but a lot worth unpacking and thinking about. 1/

To start, of course, is the eye roll fact that white people dressed up like non-white people to engage in destructive behavior. 2/

But, just as importantly, the Boston Tea Party has a lot of warnings for us today - not only about the politics of our age but about what might be to come. 3/

After all, one of the key events in the lead up to the Revolution was a relatively minor 3 pence tax on tea (which combined with other tax cuts meant the price of British tea would actually decrease). 4/

Of course, the colonists of the time said their outrage wasn’t so much over the tax as it was over the principle at stake - the idea that the British parliament had any taxing authority over the colonies at all. 5/

And that was a principled debate that was playing out not only in the American colonies but concurrently in places like Ireland (which at the time had its own parliament). 6/

But, just as important as any principled debate was the stoked up fear that the colonies were somehow at risk of becoming autocracies - which was a pretty ludicrous assertion. 7/

But it was one fueled by anonymous pamphlets that made outrageous claims about colonial officials like Thomas Hutchison, the governor of Massachusetts - claims that nonetheless were widely believed. 8/

If the anonymous pamphlets were the internet rumors of the day - and helped fuel division and polarization - the response didn’t help. 9/

Indeed, the lead up to the Revolution in a lot of ways is the perfect example of both sides managing to goad each other on toward a result that nobody (at least very few people) wanted. 10/

And looking back, the idea that there would be a decisive break is hard to fathom in a lot of ways. After all, colonies were prosperous and enjoyed an almost unprecedented level of self-government and autonomy. 11/

And yet, a break came. Powered by rising polarization (and the fake news of the day) and two sides that couldn’t see how not to push each other into ever more and more extreme acts - with the help of self-interested people on both sides who took advantage of the situation. 12/

The potential for stumbling into disaster is something I think a lot about today in own age of hyper-polarized politics. I thought about it with Merrick Garland, with the Kavanaugh hearings, with the culture of outrage and sanctimony that seems to pervade our politics. 13/

A few more thoughts on the North Carolina partisan gerrymandering cases - or more specifically the facts. #fairmaps#ncpol 2/

Although some are skeptical about what the Supreme Court will do in the partisan gerrymandering cases it took today (and not without justification, especially given Justice Kennedy’s retirement), it’s important to remember how unusual the facts of NC are. #fairmaps#ncpol 3/

2018 was a busy and, in many ways, head spinning year on the redistricting front - with action in both state and federal court and at the ballot box. A look back. #fairmaps 1/

Things kicked off on January 5, when the special master in the racial gerrymandering challenge to North Carolina's legislative maps issued his recommendations on how the maps should be redrawn. brennancenter.org/sites/default/…#fairmaps 2/

Then, on Jan 9, while the court in the NC racial gerrymandering case was weighing recommendations for fixes to the legislative maps, a different federal court issued a ruling striking down NC's congressional map as a partisan gerrymander. brennancenter.org/sites/default/…#fairmaps 3/

A bunch of handwringing debate about Beto O'Rourke's performance in the smaller Texas counties - where his 26.6% of the vote underperformed Bill White's 32.4% but bettered Wendy Davis' all-time D low of 22.6%. #txlege 1/

And there is no question that doing better in rural Texas would have helped O'Rourke close the gap with Ted Cruz. But it's important to remember that the smaller counties only contribute around 21% of the vote, so the impact of "underperformance" can be exaggerated. #txlege 2/

Even if O'Rourke had won the same percentage of the vote in the smaller counties as Bill White, he still would have come up short (a lot closer to be sure but still short). #txlege 3/

#FDR promoted the idea that the people of the world, in all nations, shared entitlement to four freedoms: that of the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want and the freedom from fear.

#FDR is arguably one of the most 'successful' #US Presidents. Some would argue that on the basis of his numerous social policies such as 'the New Deal'. Others, however, would argue that his role during the second world war was more prevalent to his success & everlasting legacy.

Today's movies-on-TV thread is devoted to a single film. The debut, 60 years ago today, of Dieterle's brilliant HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939) on WOR's "Million Dollar Movie.'' I first saw this masterpiece during at least one of its 16 showings on Channel 9 during New Year week.

HUNCHBACK was was the only film shown at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1939, cancelled after World War II broke out. It was among the most famous of the 700-plus movies acquired by WOR's parent company, RKO General, when it bought the failing studio from Howard Hughes in 1955

I'm going to focus on two issues: how WOR severely cut the film for its first TV showings, as well as its mysterious, little-known showing on another New York City TV station 14 years earlier, which is why I'm not labeling its first appearance on MDM 12/29/58 as a "NY TV debut.''

On Sept. 11, 2001, everyone watched in horror as our country was attacked. Here is a story about a friend who died on 9/11 as an #American hero. I first met John years ago, we had both trained and worked in the business of corporate finance out of #NYC. John was a good man.

After working his way through the difficult first years many new executives face as they battle to make a career for themselves on Wall Street, John had worked at several firms with positions of increasing responsibility. It was difficult for him, because John was a nice guy.

By 2000, John had won enough battles to earn respect on Wall Street. He had become Managing Director of boutique investment firm Sandler O'Neill, focused on mergers & acquisitions of regional banks. John worked from his office on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center in #NYC.